We'll remember all the times we spent together.

Alright, here it is. Tonight is our last night in Guatemala. A mere 19 hours from now I will be arriving in Amarillo, TX. I'm sure it will be quite the culture shock, but I don't really have a choice. This month has been absolutely incredible and it is SO hard to believe that it's over. Today we spent the morning traveling through Guate City touring different attractions (including a very large cemetery which I thought to be a little weird) and then ate lunch and headed over to the hotel we're staying in tonight. We got to just hang out for the afternoon here and then went out tonight for dinner at Los Cebollines, one of our favorite restaurants here.

I would like to thank you all again so much for your prayers and support. Yesterday we got to go to a community center in the morning and do a SHOE DROP!!! Oh my goodness, it was so incredible. Every single child we put shoes on was so so grateful and their parents even more so. I wish for each of you to be able to experience something like that. Giving something as simple as new socks and shoes to a child with little to nothing. In the afternoon we got to go back to San Gabriel and hang out with our youth boys again. It's funny how very simple relays can keep boys entertained for hours. Thursday our relay was running down and eating a watermelon one bite at a time and yesterday we had them run, do some push-ups, run, eat 2 saltine crackers, run back, do some jumping jacks which NONE of them knew how to do, and then tag the next person. The second time we ran the relay we had the boys dance for 10 seconds instead of jumping jacks because none of them knew how to do them. The dancing was WAY more entertaining. Oh my goodness. After that, a simple game of futbol kept them satisfied until it was time for us to go. Last night to end things off, we got to go play soccer with the transitional boys homes. Be proud, I was on the court (it was a concrete court) the entire game and kicked the ball 3 times. Yep. Against a bunch of Guatemalan teenage boys that's pretty good.

Well it's late and I need to sleep so I'm not delirious telling everyone bye tomorrow.
Please pray for safe traveling tomorrow and I will hopefully see you all in person soon.

Coming to an end...

To start things off, I would like to wish my sister a VERY happy birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, I LOVE YOU!

So... life in the city. Sunday afternoon we went to the baby home and had a WONDERFUL time hanging out with the babies and doing different VBS activities. That night, we just hung out at the office together with our interpreter Francisco. He's become our close friend, especially since we only have one boy intern.

Monday morning we got to tour the different Buckner facilities in town, which ended up only being 4 because the girls' transitional home leaders were in a meeting. So first we went and saw 2 boys' transitional homes which were such a sign of hope for these boys. They all seemed so focused and seemed to really care about their futures. After the 2 boys' homes, we attempted to go see the girls' homes, but no one was there, so we went to the mommies and babies home. After receiving the full tour of the facilities, including one very large boxer who thought he was very small, we went out back to the day care and spent some time hanging out with the babies that lived there. There were only 5 of them, but they were all full of SO much energy it felt like there were WAY more. After staying there for a while, we headed back to the office for a break before heading out again. By heading out, I mean we went back to the baby home. The kids were SO hilarious this time, partly because they'd finally gotten to know us, so we spent the whole afternoon over there working with them and doing 2 sessions of VBS to make up for our flexibility that has caused us to reorganize and redefine what we would be doing these next couple of days. Our afternoon there ended in a party of sorts with cookie faces and yogurt and superhero outfits. We brought cookies and icing (and yogurt to keep things on the healthy side) and they provided us with entertainment. The boys there all have taken on second personalities of different superheroes. Juan Pablo is Spiderman, Jose is Superman, Estuardo is Batman (the best), and Daniel is Buzz Lightyear. They definitely took the show and were CRAZY going everywhere showing us what they could do.

Yesterday was my favorite day, well maybe a tie. Yesterday we got the opportunity to go back to Manchen, the girls' home that we got cut short on a few weeks ago. As we walked in it was SO good to see all of them again and redevelop some of the friendships that were effected by the first week's festivities. As I was standing and waiting for all of the girls to come out, one little girl came up to me that I didn't remember. She said, hey, I know you. As I looked at her I didn't really recognize her, but I was more than willing to hear her out as to how we knew each other. She said, “I am new here. I just moved here Saturday and before that I was in Xela.” If you remember, we were in Xela last week. I said, did we come to your house in Xela and she very EXCITEDLY said YES! with a HUGE smile on her face. I'm pretty positive I spent zero time with this girl in Xela, but somehow she remembered me and immediately attached to me at the hip. Maribel. She was quite a joy, really. Constantly asking to sing the songs we had taught or just sit and talk. She’s 4 months pregnant, going to be 5 on Monday. She just turned 14 last week. Monday maybe. Anyway, we spent the entire afternoon together drawing, playing pickup sticks, making bracelets, and dancing a little. After we finished moving through the different groups, we were very quickly encouraged to head out so that no one was just standing around chatting. I desperately looked around for Maribel because she had run off to talk to one of the directors for a second. I finally found her and she ran over to me and I told her we had to leave and that I loved her a lot. She asked me over and over to stay there with her. She said that she needed me. She told me she loved me more than I would ever know. Yep. I cried. I had to leave this poor little 14 year old girl here alone in Guatemala where she was yet to make friends at this violent orphanage and she will soon be raising a CHILD there. Oh dear. If only there was some way I could stay here longer or some how help her understand how much I wish I could be here with her. Nonetheless, we had to leave. I quickly got myself outside so I wouldn’t have to convince her anymore. One key element I forgot to mention is that we got to go back to Manchen because a family group from Park Cities came back through to do another trip here. We went to Porta Antigua to eat lunch with the group before we were going to head on to Elisa Martinez. A few of the guys from PCBC decided to come with us because we are a group of 10 girls and 2 boys (including interpreters) about to encounter 75 special needs (mostly) boys about 8 and over. Yeah.

Ok, so yesterday afternoon we went to Elisa Martinez and I spent the afternoon making airplanes, wooden and paper. The first group we made wooden airplanes, and then we found out we didn’t have enough, so the second group had to make paper airplanes and we had a distance contest after they finished. That afternoon was most likely the most difficult we’ve experienced, in my opinion at least. It was really fun hanging out with those boys, but it was so much effort because they constantly wanted to kiss us or hug us or whatever they deemed necessary. With 70-80% of the boys being special needs it was constant effort to keep their attention occupied on something productive. It really was a great experience nonetheless.

Today turned into the other favorite day. Not expected at all. This morning we got to go to a completely special needs orphanage and tour it first. This orphanage was SO COOL! First they have a school for neighborhood children, who before the school started didn’t go to school at all because the next nearest school is so far away. The school is completely free for the students and goes to 6^th grade which is so much more than they would have learned at home. They are looking to be funded to get a high school there too, but for now they only have kindergarten through 6^th grade and the director knows English and has begun teaching them English, too. After touring the school they took us over to the clinic area. In the clinic they had a psychiatrist, a social worker, water therapy, physical therapy, speech/language pathology, and special needs workers. This was the exact situation that I would LOVE to work in some day. Oh my goodness. I’m pretty sure my jaw was dropped for a majority of the time we were walking through there, and again, it’s free to anyone who comes. The last part of the tour was seeing the kids in their rooms. All of the children there are special needs, some much more than others, but all of them nonetheless. This home was so incredible because the teachers and directors there had made such and effort to make it a happy place, not a place where you “had” to stay. All of the walls outside were covered in murals of encouraging sayings and bright colorful pictures and the rooms inside were each decorated for the children that lived there. It really was such a blessing to get to see a place like this. After our tour finished we spent the rest of the morning with a group of girls we had seen when we came in. We colored and danced and played with playdough with them. Our original plan was to head back this afternoon and see them again, but we didn’t have any activities that we could have done with them, so we asked if there was anywhere else we were needed.

The only other home we were offered to go to was San Gabriel which is the juvenile detention home of sorts. Kids are brought there by the government when they do something bad, but not bad enough to go to jail. I was really nervous about this place, but it was SO INCREDIBLE. The director and the man I’m assuming was the co-director are these 2 VERY large men who could take these kids out at any moment necessary. It seemed that they were a little rough on these kids, but I imagine that for the most part they deserved it. One boy named Miguel came up to Kaitlyn and just started telling her his life story. The minute he started talking, tears began flowing down his face. He was with his friends and they were in some trouble and they ended up killing 2 people, but Miguel kept saying “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything.” Since he was with them though and had a gun (yes, that’s right, this 12 year-old had a gun) he was ordered by the court to come to San Gabriel. The court ordered him to stay there until he was 18. He didn’t think his parents or family members or friends or anyone knew where he was, but we had a feeling that the court didn’t just take someone’s child without telling them where he was. They may have not known exactly, but they knew he had been taken. Tears just kept streaming down this adorable little boy’s face because he very well knew that the consequences of his decision were to stay in this rough, rough home until he was 18. There were so many stories like this little boy’s in that home, and sadly we didn’t get enough time to hear them all, but Berta, our Guatemalan leader, told us today that we can go back tomorrow afternoon, which we weren’t expecting, but are MORE than willing to do. The boys living there have it rough, but they are in such a great facility and have more than they need. Hopefully tomorrow will bring us more excitement and fun memories.

So there’s a little catch up as to what’s been going on here. The days are getting shorter and shorter for our time left. One intern left this morning. She had to be back for a meeting, but I think it’s hitting all of us that we don’t have a ton of time left here. We continue to not take these days for granted because there are so few left, but please continue to pray for our energy and excitement for our last day with kids. I guess I should have mentioned that. Tomorrow’s our last day with kids and then Friday we’re going sight-seeing. Wow. That’s weird to think that we have so few days left.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support over the last month. It really has been such an incredible experience and I have plenty of other stories if you would like to know more.

Talk to you soon!

Back in town

So the interns are back in town. Sorry for the lack of posts last week, but there was no internet in our room that was good enough to get access. So we spent our weekend at Lake Atitlan. Thursday was our last day with any kids and then Friday morning we drove to the lake and had breakfast at an incredible hotel.

Yes. It was beautiful. The lake is surrounded by 3 active volcanoes. To the left were San Pedro and Santiago and to the right was San Miguel. So we spent our morning eating breakfast with the group before they headed back to the city to end their trip. We, the interns, then headed out on the lake to the other side to Santiago Atitlan to do some shopping. Once across we met this very nice little boy named Miguel who deemed himself our tour guide. We were concerned that he would be a beggar who only wanted our money, but he really just wanted to hang out with us. So we walked around town to different shops and just took in the city. Our little guide also decided to teach us some of his native language, Tzutujil. The first phrase he taught us was "No, thank you" which is mitiox chaba. ALWAYS helpful in situations like the one we were in where we didn't really want or need anything we saw. So we spent our morning there and then took the boat back to Panajachel. In Panajachel we got to spend the afternoon relaxing. The group mostly took a walk down this main road that was completely filled with shops. I chose to relax and take a nap instead of the long walk that others took. That night we relaxed and ate dinner at the hotel and went to bed in a nice strong thunderstorm. We got to sleep in the next morning and walk around some more before heading out and driving back to Guate City.

So now we're in Guatemala City and we got to just hang out and grocery shop yesterday and then this morning we went to Fraternidad Cristiana de Guatemala for church and it was HUMONGOUS! It was really a great worship service and we all enjoyed being there. After lunch we came back and got to hang out for the afternoon until about 3 when we went to the baby orphanage for a couple of hours and did our own VBS activities. These were the kids that we spent our first day here with, so it was fun seeing them all again. This week is going to be a little crazier than normal because we're going to be traveling around so much in town working with different places, but it should be fun!

I'll keep you updated!